The Best YouTube Video Downloaders in 2023

This post will provide our handpicked list of the best YouTube video downloaders. The year is 2023, and the world is going full digital. Digital entertainment is skyrocketing, with services like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus becoming more than a luxury. Only one of these services remains free, and it's YouTube, although YouTube Premium and Music subscriptions are available.

So what if you want to enjoy YouTube for free and still have access to YouTube videos online? Then this guide of the best YouTube video downloading tools in 2023 is for you. The only thing you will need is a computer and an internet connection.

The best YouTube Video downloader

Our pick for the best YouTube downloader in 2023 is VideoProc Converter. Firstly, this free program puts many paid-for tools to shame for having no ads, allowing you to save videos in the format of your choice and not placing watermarks on your downloaded clips.

It will even let you extract the audio from a video or download an entire playlist. It's my YouTube video downloader of choice now since it allows 4K and 8K resolutions, 3D and 360 videos. Meanwhile, the 4K Video Downloader is a great free pick for Linux users.

However, if you don't need that much power, there are many more streamlined free YouTube video downloaders around, which will let you enter the URL of the video you want to grab and do the rest of the work for you.

Also, check our guide on downloading YouTube videos for free on PC, macOS, Android, and iOS.

Is downloading YouTube videos legal?

Not really. Using third-party apps to download YouTube videos is against YouTube's terms of service, which state, “You are not allowed to…access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, alter, modify or otherwise use any part of the Service or any Content except (a) as expressly authorized by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube and, if applicable, the respective rights holders.”

Downloading YouTube videos also opens you up to potential copyright infringement unless you have permission from the copyright holder, it's in the public domain, or you own the video yourself.

Consequently, you are treading into questionable territory by downloading YouTube videos without using Google's apps. Use YouTube video downloaders wisely and only for personal purposes to avoid unpleasant surprises. In one of these cases, you break the law, but most likely, nobody will pursue you as long as you stick to personal use.

Key features in YouTube video downloading tools

These are the features that I believe every candidate for the best YouTube video downloader should have:

1. Video Quality: You should be able to manipulate the quality of the video. It may range between low, medium, or high. Ideally, you should be able to manually choose specific a specific resolution like 360p, 720p, 1080p, and more. 4K and 8K resolution support is vital in 2023.
2. Subtitles: We all like videos that are in different languages. In such cases, subtitles are essential while playing it on YouTube or YouTube Premium. Logically, you'll prefer to download those particular videos and the subtitles.
3. Batch Downloading: You can download the files individually or in bulk based on playlists from YouTube channels. 
4. Multiple File Format Compatibility: You may want to download and save YouTube videos in multiple formats within your file manager. Having various options to choose from maximizes file size and quality options when using YouTube downloaders; MP4, MKV, FLAC, MP3, or AAC, provides maximum device compatibility too. YouTube video to MP4 is not enough for everyone.
5. YouTube Audio Downloader functionality: Ideally, as a buyer, you want your video downloader to offer full audio downloader functionality and MP3, M4A, and OGG support. This will save you money, as you won't have to buy an extra YouTube to MP3 converter to download premium quality YouTube Music audio clips.
6. Speed: The tool should be able to download and convert videos fast. The download connection shouldn't be severely affected by internet and wi-fi connectivity fluctuations.
7. Multi-platform Compatibility: Another vital feature for YouTube downloaders; Mac, Linux & PC support provides maximum flexibility.
8. Ease of Use: Finally, we are looking for apps that simplify the download process. You should only need to paste the video URL to the downloader.
9. Hardware Acceleration: If you are looking for the best of the best YouTube video downloaders, hardware acceleration is a feature you will need for faster conversion and higher quality.

Due to all these requirements, I don't recommend using an online YouTube video downloader, and I don't believe any of them are among the best YouTube video downloaders. They are very limited in capabilities and show extremely disruptive and disturbing ads.

1. VideoProc Converter

The best YouTube video downloader & converter for Windows & Mac we have tested so far.

VideoProc Converter is the swiss army knife of YouTube video downloaders. While our list features some of the best video downloaders for YouTube and many other platforms, VideoProc Converter outclasses the competition. You will probably not find more features on a YouTube downloader. The tool supports annotation placement, basic video editing, subtitle search and download, and full hardware acceleration, even on the latest Apple Silicon.

I firmly believe VideoProc Converter is the best YouTube video downloader money can buy you now.

Pros:

• Vast format selection, including WEBM, MP3, MP4, MKV, 3GP, M4A.
• Full hardware acceleration support for NVIDIA GPUs and Apple M1/M1 Pro/M1 Max on the paid version leads to faster rendering while maintaining excellent quality. This is a feature you won't find on most YouTube video downloaders, even premium ones.
• Allows the addition of annotations to videos.
• Offers video editor capabilities, like video merging (a bit limited overall, but still useful).
• Can handle music files and audio extraction from videos.
• Searches and downloads matching subtitles.
• Provides screen and webcam recording tools (supported on iPhone too).
• You can download YouTube playlists and even YouTube channels.
• Supports resolutions up to 4K and 8K.
• 3D and 360-degree video support.
• The in-app proxy setup allows you to bypass geographical restrictions.
• Provides a 30-day money-back guarantee on product license purchase.

Cons:

• No Linux support.
• The free trial only allows the download and conversion of up to 5-minute videos.

2. 4K Video Downloader

The best YouTube video downloader for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It scores extremely high in every aspect.

The most versatile YouTube downloader available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, 4K Video downloader is fast, free, and flexible. This is our pick for the best free YouTube video downloader.

Pros:

• Vast format selection, including MP3, MP4, MKV, 3GP, M4A
• Can handle music files and audio extraction from videos
• You can download YouTube playlists and even YouTube channels
• Supports resolutions up to 4K and 8K
• 3D and 360-degree video support
• The in-app proxy setup allows you to bypass geographical restrictions
• The tool is compatible with Windows, Linux, macOS
• no bloatware.
• Provides a 14-day money-back guarantee on product license purchase

Cons:

• The free version does not allow you to download playlists longer than 24 videos
• 30 videos per day, 5 videos per channel limit on the free plan

Read also: 4K Video Downloader detailed review

4K Video Downloader is the best free YouTube downloader for quick, fuss-free YouTube downloads. It's simple to use, highly customizable, ad-free and doesn't include bloatware.

There's a great choice of formats. Both video and audio, including MP4 downloads and conversions of YouTube videos to MP3. You can download captions for individual videos, and there's support for 3D and 360-degree videos too. Moreover, delving into the properties lets you tweak options like multi-stream downloads (increasing the number of streams will speed up downloads but increases the risk of YouTube banning your IP address) and set up a proxy connection.

Buying a key will let you download longer playlists and playlists with captions, and at $15 for a lifetime license for three PCs, it's a bargain, but the free edition has everything else you could wish for unless you are a mass downloader.

Finally, this is also the best video downloader for Mac and Linux.

3. WinX YouTube Downloader

Clear, powerful, and well-designed; a very close runner-up among the best YouTube video downloaders.

Pros:

• Vast format selection
• Playlist downloads
• Multiple-video download support
• No bloatware.

Cons:

• No 3d and 360-degree video support
• No Linux support.

Running a very close second, WinX YouTube Downloader can download videos from all the most popular sites, including Facebook, Vimeo, and DailyMotion. Unfortunately, it's only available for Windows and macOS. However, it is one of these platforms' best YouTube video downloaders.

WinX is effortless to use. Just paste in a URL, select an output format and quality setting, and the program will add it to the current batch.

Once you've added all the videos you want to download, click the ‘Download' button, and they'll all be processed at once and saved to the destination folder of your preference.

WinX YouTube Downloader can download 4K videos when available. WinX YouTube downloader's only disadvantages compared to 4K Video Downloader are the lack of 3D and 360-degree video support and Linux support. This free YouTube downloader is a great choice if this isn't a problem.

4. Any Video Converter Free

Download and convert videos bundled with a video editor.

Pros:

• Vast format support
• Built-in video editor

Cons:

• No multiple-video downloads and bundled extra software
• Lack of Linux support.

Any Video Converter Free is one of the best free YouTube downloaders for Windows and macOS. The only drawback is that this free version limits you to download a single video at a time, but if you're looking for a free solution, this is something you may decide you're happy to put up with.

There are many video formats, and a basic video editor is built into this YouTube downloader. You can use it to crop a video you download, add simple effects such as color adjustment, and add overlay text.

Free YouTube Video Downloader is easy to use but doesn't have the best user experience. Regardless, it's a very decent choice for free YouTube video downloads. Avoid the bundled ByteFence and Yahoo software during installation; you're ready to start using it.

5. Free YouTube Download

The biggest what-if of our best YouTube video downloaders list.

Pros:

• Multiple-video downloads
• Auto-download option
• Shutdown-pc-when-done option.

Cons:

• Three-minute time limit.

Free YouTube Download is a straightforward, tightly focused free YouTube downloader, totally on point with what it does. It's available on Windows and macOS.

If you enable the Auto-Download option, just paste in a URL from YouTube, and you can download the video in just a couple of clicks, or no clicks at all.

The formats available will depend on the original video's quality, but AVI, MP4, iPhone/iPod, and MKV should be available in most cases. It's also possible to convert to audio-only MP3 if you don't need the footage. You can also download multiple videos at once.

There's only one real drawback, but it's huge; you can only use Free YouTube Download to grab clips less than three minutes long. That rules out most music videos and is a real shame. The lack of Linux support is also a disadvantage, albeit a much less important one.

6. aTube Catcher

Download, convert and merge videos as they're playing with aTube Catcher.

Pros:

• Free for the past 14+ years
• Multiple-video downloads
• Supports most popular formats
• Automatic file conversion

Cons:

• The installation process is full of adware, only available on Windows.

aTube Catcher can save videos from most big video hosting sites, thus the aTube in the name instead of YouTube.

The installation process for aTube Catcher is full of adware, sadly. Make sure to Cancel and Decline every recommendation.

Downloaded videos can be converted automatically to several popular formats, so you can tailor them for their intended use or whatever device you intend to watch them on. If you're looking to download many videos, you can download them all at once, maxing out your bandwidth, something not available in all of the best free YouTube downloaders on this list.

This free YouTube downloader also offers plenty of extra extras, such as recording any on-screen video, video merging, and disc burning. Unfortunately, it's only available for Windows.

The best YouTube video downloaders for Android

Here is the list of the best YouTube video downloaders for Android. We will keep this list short because most of these apps are full of ads, and I'd much rather download a video on a desktop and transfer it to my smartphone, even in 2023.

1. KeepVid                                         

Pros: 

• 4K resolution support                 

Cons: 

• Displays Ads

KeepVid is a popular and excellent YouTube video downloader for Android devices. It is arguably the best YouTube video downloader for Android smartphones and tablets.

It is also super fast. Additionally, it can download videos from several video-sharing sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and more. Even better, KeepVid can download videos of 4K quality.

It's a free app that displays ads, so you will need the premium version to remove them. You can browse YouTube within KeepVid using the search box and press the download button for the video of your choice.

Finally, KeepVid's app contains a built-in video and audio player and effortlessly converts videos to MP3.

YouTube Video downloader free download: KeepVid is free on its official site.

2. TubeMate

Pros: 

• Cleaner than KeepVid

Cons:

• No 4K support. Limited to HD video.

TubeMate is a YouTube downloader for Android that lets you grab your favorite videos in MP4, 4GP, MP3, or WAV formats.

Firstly, the tool also has a video player and a built-in search feature to conveniently find videos. Like KeepVide, TubeMate can browse YouTube within the app and provide a download button to select the video you want to download.

The Android version of TubeMate is unavailable on Android, but you can download it from TubeMate's website.

TubeMate YouTube video downloader free download: TubeMate is free on its website.

The verdict on YouTube video downloaders in 2023

To conclude, we have a clear winner here, and as the list progresses, there is a distinct downgrade in quality and feature support. Based on my tests, those looking for a paid tool should try VideoProc Converter, as it is the best YouTube video downloader I have tried.

With its full hardware acceleration support on both Windows and Mac and its ability to download YouTube videos of any format (4K, 8K, 360, 3D), you have an outstanding YouTube video downloader in your hands.

Users on Linux or those looking for the best free YouTube video downloader should stick to 4K Video Downloader, though as VideoProc converter only provides a free trial, so it's not a free solution.

Finally, stay tuned for updates on the best YouTube video downloaders in the list.

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